Jun. 17, 2017, 7:43 p.m.

The Orange County GOP showcased state Sen. Janet Nguyen at its Saturday fundraiser in Irvine, having the Garden Grove Republican deliver the pledge.

Nguyen, a Vietnamese war refugee, was in the headlines this year when she was forcefully removed while trying to speak out on the Senate floor against the late Sen. Tom Hayden, one of the most outspoken opponents of the Vietnam War.

Jun. 17, 2017, 7:34 p.m.

They don’t want me to talk to my constituents more; they want me to talk to them. They don’t represent my constituents. None of them represent my constituents…. They are a political organization asking me to pay homage to them. Forget it.

Jun. 17, 2017, 7:32 p.m.

They’re pathetic. There were almost none. There’s a couple million people in the surrounding communities and to have those few tells you the real momentum of this movement has really died. The same has been happening at our office where they come every Tuesday. There’s less every week.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), on protesters at the Orange County GOP's annual Flag Day fundraiser in Irvine

Susan Wong, a registered nurse from Orange, and her husband, Jim, who uses a wheelchair, were among scores of protesters on hand to greet Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Tulare) and other GOP lawmakers who gathered Saturday at the Orange County Republican Party’s annual Flag Day fundraiser.

“It’s all the deplorables in one basket,” said Wong, 64, outside of Hotel Irvine. “You just can’t stay home. I’m horrified every day. Instead of yelling at the television I’m going to come out and protest.”

"It's all the deplorables in one basket," said Susan Wong as she protests outside OC GOP fundraiser with husband Jim. pic.twitter.com/vDmbRCvwUf

Wong said she has seen a sharp decline in the number of uninsured people at the community college clinic where she works, progress she fears will be undone if President Trump is successful in his campaign promise to repeal former President Obama’s signature healthcare law. And she worries about the impact on her husband, a former research biologist with Parkinson’s disease who is on disability.

Freelance politics and baseball writer Nathaniel Rakich keeps unofficial statistics for the game, and shared highlights from the California delegation with The Times. In all, lawmakers from this state scored 6 of the 11 runs.

Jun. 16, 2017, 12:40 p.m.

When it comes to California's contribution to climate change, no challenge looms larger than cars.

New figures from state regulators show that transportation is the single largest source of greenhouse gas emissions at 37% of the total, and passenger vehicles make up the largest chunk of that sector.

And even though the state has been reducing its emissions, tailpipe pollution increased 4.4% in 2015, the most recent statistics available.

Jun. 16, 2017, 10:47 a.m.

Citing an epidemic of opioid overdose deaths across the country, state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra said Friday that California is joining with more than 26 other states to investigate whether drugmakers have used illegal marketing and sales practices.

Becerra said the probe would focus on whether drug manufacturers have played a role in creating or extending the opioid problem.

Makers of opioids have been under heat in recent years as the addiction crisis has intensified. A 2016 Times investigation revealed that Purdue Pharma, which manufactures OxyContin, knew its drug's painkilling effects might not last as long as long as marketed, which could potentially promote addiction. The investigation also found Purdue Pharma collected extensive evidence of criminal trafficking of its drug but in many cases did not alert law enforcement.

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Jun. 16, 2017, 10:40 a.m.

Tweets sent by President Trump have Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) concerned that he will try to fire the special prosecutor appointed to investigate Russian attempts to influence the 2016 presidential election, and the deputy attorney general who appointed him.

“The message the president is sending through his tweets is that he believes the rule of law doesn’t apply to him and that anyone who thinks otherwise will be fired. That’s undemocratic on its face and a blatant violation of the president’s oath of office," Feinstein said in a statement Friday.

“It’s becoming clear to me that the president has embarked on an effort to undermine anyone with the ability to bring any misdeeds to light, be that Congress, the media or the Justice Department. The Senate should not let that happen. We’re a nation of laws that apply equally to everyone, a lesson the president would be wise to learn,” she said.

Jun. 16, 2017, 9:35 a.m.

Assemblyman Evan Low (D-Campbell) is one of the leaders in the Legislature who is thinking about the future of Uber, Lyft and the ride-hailing industry. Low, who co-founded the Legislature's tech and millennial caucuses, now has a bill aimed at easing regulations for taxis to make them more competitive.

We spoke with Low about his motivations for supporting ride-hailing and whether the state is set up to oversee all the changes, including autonomous vehicles, heading to the industry.

"I do think it's an appropriate time to engage in a wider conversation about the vision of California in the transportation space," Low said. "We are very much engaged in that conversation. But we are also guilty of being slow at that process and not keeping up to date with that."